Who Is Your Personal Style Icon

I’ve never wanted to raid a person’s closet and gene pool quite as badly as I do Lauren Hutton’s. You can have your Anna Dello Russo luxury, your Chloë Sevigny 90s redux, your Sid Vicious punk and your Olsen twin bohemian, because all I want to do is soak up Lauren Hutton’s safari jacket-genius and roll around in khaki colored linens and white blouses. She has perfected preppy without the stuffy implications, relaxed without a hint of lazy. Hutton is, in a word, effortless, and if her style was a box of cereal I would eat the whole thing in one sitting with the largest spoon I could find.

There were others before her. The boys of the Dead Poets Society, for example. My grandfather. Katharine Hepburn as influenced by my mom. My cousin Sarah when she bought these 7 for All Mankind jeans that had Swarovski crystals on the butt so then I wanted 7 for All Mankind jeans with Swarovski crystals on the butt. In middle school I’m pretty sure my influencers were the kids who I saw at the Warped Tour and in college it appears I was a lost soul, icon-less, just floating in a sea of clothes that would keep me warm and shirts that would make me look “hot” on weekends.

But much like I wouldn’t take back the general life mistakes I’ve made, I wouldn’t take back any of my less-fashionable style “icons” either. (K. Hepburn, Pop Pop, Dead Poet boys — you don’t count in that category!) The good and the bad are all a part of who I am and what my style is today (though I thank the heavens that Instagram wasn’t around to document every time I wore a cropped polo — Marissa Cooper, that was your fault — or my platform flip flops or Abercrombie anything).

Lauren Hutton though, she’s the one who saved me. She’s the one who said you can have a gap between your teeth and smile bigger than anyone in the room. She’s the one who encouraged me to focus on my style, as opposed to what was in style. She showed me that wrinkles are beautiful because they display character and a life well lived, and when my contacts fail me and I have to squint at someone while they’re talking I think to myself, “Squint harder! Get those signature Hutton crow’s feet!”

I have plenty of other icons today too. Julia Sarr-Jamois is my go-to when I need a blast of sartorial bravery, for example. The beauty of the internet today is that we’re exposed to absolutely everyone and everything, and all it takes is one bored afternoon of getting lost on Pinterest to find inspiration in the personal style of thousands upon thousands of people.

Now enough about me — what about you? Who is your personal style inspiration? Who did it used to be? Post pictures too and let’s inspire each other.

I have always been inspired by those peeps on the street that want to be the peacocks instead of the dull pigeons. Someone that wears pyjamas at school, blue hair, a piercing. There are so many people I don’t even know the name of, but whom I’m utterly thankful for the inspiration they gave me at one particular second. But style icons…I would say Marina Diamandis, as she is one hell of a cool person (a BOOBIES T-shirt on a morning TV-show? Omg.). Also Emma Peel, as played by Diana Rigg. The elegance is enough to knock you down down.

150% my mother hands down. She’s taught me the most about fashion, dressing myself, trends, and timeless pieces. She’s the first person I know to rock oversized glasses and her massive closest ranges from designers like APC to items from Kirna Zabete. I wouldn’t have the confidence to post my comments if it weren’t for her. Here is her looking like Kanye West. I think the only reason you know it’s not actually Yeezy is my dad rocking dad-jeans in the back (in the full pic).

I know that there are a lot of Gwenyth haters out there but as a mom trying to be a cool entrepreneur or whatever, she really gives me a lot to look up to. Sometimes she’s vegan, sometimes she eats bacon with Mario Batali. I remember once I saw a photo of her that had a caption explaining that her leather pants had split so that’s why her pashmina was wrapped like a sarong over the top. She’s not exactly real, but real stuff does happen to her and she always looks pretty damn good.